Dates: 3150 BCE - 31CE (Fell to the Roman Empire and became a province of Rome)
Complete the acronym below by adding 3-4 bullet points and an image that relate to your civilization:
GOVERNMENT -Louis YooPharaohs-were treated as a God, therefore having supreme power over their kingdom.Their job was to create a secure and centralized state over the Egyptian kingdom and commanded the military .In order to enforce the laws and codes, pharoahs claimed a godlike support for their rule and laws.As Hatshepsut once did queens took the name of the male heir too young to rule.Facial hair was a sign of authority. Ramses the II is the model pharoah.Here is a social pyramid. The higher up the class is the more power, rights and respect they have. Vizier: Chief minister-carried out the pharaohs commands using a system of scribes with the help of various bureaus in control of tax collection, farming, irrigation system and more. Without an honest, fair vizier the pharoahs will would not be done and the city will fall to pieces.A wise Chief Minister known as Ptah-hotep wrote a book directed towards the young officials in training called Instructions of the Vizier Ptah-hotep. It contained advice on the common mistakes of an official.Here is a social pyramid. The higher up the class is the more power, rights and respect they have.Pharaoh-Divine rule, king. Creates laws leads military.Upper class- High Priests, officials.Carried out the Pharaoh's religious and governmental wishes .Middle class-engineers, doctors.The fixers of the city. Without them people would have no one to go to when sick or when they needed to work/help on a piece of technology.Scribes and craftsmen- Scribes carried out officials tasks and wrote important accountings down.Farmers/villagers-Held under state control and taxed. sometimes forced to work in irrigation or construction in order to maintain the city.
Women had a good standard of rights and status. While they went to take care of trade and business the men stayed at home, the opposite practice of human kind.
The Ma'át was the central set of laws calling for truth order balance and justice based on the concept of right and wrong. with the exception of slaves all people disregarding the social class and wealth.
If a law was broken the punishment was often given out to the criminal and his family.
Criminal law- The pharaoh himself or an appointed official had full power over judgement.These punishments included heavy fines,whipping, body mutilations exile labor and death.
Civil law- Civil law was brought before a court. Cases involving property,money and divorce were fairly solved with evidence and contracts. Women children and even slaves had considerable amount of rights under the law.
RELIGION -Yasmine
Priests were powerful figure in Egypt life and religion
Religion and political power were closely linked
Religion was polytheists, meaning Egyptians worshiped many gods
The most important god during the old kingdom was Re, the sun god, he rose every morning from the dead with the sun
ECONOMY - (Jack)
The Egyptians traded with countries around the Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, and the Red Sea.
Trade items brought from other countries were goods like silver, iron, cedar logs, horses, ivory, copper, cattle, leopard skins, and spices.
The big products brought from Egypt were gold and other minerals, wheat, barley, and papyrus sheets.
Sailors on the trading ships were paid in grain, Egyptians did not have a money currency like we do now.
Jobs in Ancient Egypt included government officials, soldiers, scribes, doctors, merchants, dancers, fishermen, hunters, bakers, carpenters, coffin-makers, weavers, jewelers, pyramid builders, and farmers. Most Egyptians were farmers.
Kids went to school from age 4 to age 14. Little boys started learning their father’s job when they were 4.
They learned reading, writing, and math. The kids who were going to be lawyers, scribes, or doctors went to a special school were they studied hieroglyphics.
ART -Yasmine
Art was expressed in paintings and sculptures and it was symbolic.
Ancient Egyptian art forms are characterized by regularity of human beings and nature.
They used art to explain their beliefs and religion.
TECHNOLOGY -(Jack)
The Ancient Egyptians built the Pyramids of Giza, one of the seven wonders of the world.
Simple roadways, ramps, sledges, lots of labor, and excellent organization was used.
All workers were professionals.
2.5 ton blocks were moved using sledges pulled by 10-20 men on prepared slide ways. 15 ton granite blocks were used in the burial chambers, they were hard to move and extract. Hand held pounders & bronze saws were used to cut & break the stones. A mixture of basalt, gypsum, and crushed sand were used for lubricant on the granite stones, the bronze saw provided pressure and a guide for a strait cut while the sand did the actual cutting.
Some stones would be shifted or put into place with wooden rollers or a system of levers.
SOCIETY -(Olivia) In Ancient Egypt, the social pyramid consisted (from highest rank to lowest): KING: officials were buried in mastabas, decorated with special text; wore a crown, considered a god on earth.RULING CLASS: consisted of high ranking officials related to the king and held important positions at court and across Egypt; always shown in bigger view in art. (priests, nobles)UPPER MIDDLE: priests, engineers, doctors. lived in spacious estates in the country side or the outskirts of town.SCRIBES & CRAFTSMEN: scribes knew how to read and write, so they had higher status than craftsmen, who's work was considered secondary and lower in status.VILLAGERS: lived in cramped villages with houses made of mudbricks and had no plumbing, unlike the higher classes. Worked as farmers, laborers, soldiers, or servants.
A common family was comprised of a husband and wife, their children, the husband's widowed mother, and any unmarried sister(s). There was no formal marriage ceremony, but rather the ceremony of the beginning of the cohabitation (which established a new household).
Typically, young women, when leaving their fathers' homes, left all possessions there. Marital life in Ancient Egypt is similar to modern American ways. Divorce was an accepted concept. However, men could have concubines; pharaohs could have several wives and concubines. Young girls also married, but were often widowed in their teens, for their older partners were more susceptible to old age and disease.
A woman's careers were similar to modern American women's lives back then. They often took care of the needs of the household, cooking, cleaning, nurturing her children. Many women, to some capacity, worked outside the home. They also participated in agriculture and could hold jobs regarding mortuary status, which often paid very well.
In short, Egyptian civilization is, in some ways, quite similar to our society. Perhaps their structure contributed to ours in some way...?
Summary of your civilization's achievements: Egypt has made several contributions to modern society as well as the inventions of common tools. They gave us glass, linen, paper and ink (of course, they used a papyrus); made astronomical advances, bringing us the calender and the clock. As with the Greeks, Egyptians were making great progress in mathematics, bringing us some forms of Geometry. Also, if you take a look around you, our modern society has some hints of influence from the Egyptians: women's rights, freedom, legal liberty, and even the foundation of law. The invention of hieroglyphics and idea of a form of writing spread across civilizations over time. The great pyramids built created an iconic symbol for the Egyptian and contain a large amount of historical information within.They were the first to invent many things such as beer, wine, granite tools,surgery, boating and makeup.
Dates: 3150 BCE - 31CE (Fell to the Roman Empire and became a province of Rome)
Complete the acronym below by adding 3-4 bullet points and an image that relate to your civilization:
GOVERNMENT -Louis YooPharaohs-were treated as a God, therefore having supreme power over their kingdom.Their job was to create a secure and centralized state over the Egyptian kingdom and commanded the military .In order to enforce the laws and codes, pharoahs claimed a godlike support for their rule and laws.As Hatshepsut once did queens took the name of the male heir too young to rule.Facial hair was a sign of authority. Ramses the II is the model pharoah. Here is a social pyramid. The higher up the class is the more power, rights and respect they have.
Vizier: Chief minister-carried out the pharaohs commands using a system of scribes with the help of various bureaus in control of tax collection, farming, irrigation system and more. Without an honest, fair vizier the pharoahs will would not be done and the city will fall to pieces.A wise Chief Minister known as Ptah-hotep wrote a book directed towards the young officials in training called Instructions of the Vizier Ptah-hotep. It contained advice on the common mistakes of an official.
RELIGION -Yasmine
Religion and political power were closely linked
Religion was polytheists, meaning Egyptians worshiped many gods
The most important god during the old kingdom was Re, the sun god, he rose every morning from the dead with the sun
ECONOMY - (Jack)
ART -Yasmine
SOCIETY -(Olivia) In Ancient Egypt, the social pyramid consisted (from highest rank to lowest):
KING: officials were buried in mastabas, decorated with special text; wore a crown, considered a god on earth. RULING CLASS: consisted of high ranking officials related to the king and held important positions at court and across Egypt; always shown in bigger view in art. (priests, nobles) UPPER MIDDLE: priests, engineers, doctors. lived in spacious estates in the country side or the outskirts of town. SCRIBES & CRAFTSMEN: scribes knew how to read and write, so they had higher status than craftsmen, who's work was considered secondary and lower in status. VILLAGERS: lived in cramped villages with houses made of mudbricks and had no plumbing, unlike the higher classes. Worked as farmers, laborers, soldiers, or servants.